Our Story...
Brooke & Shoals was founded by Alison Banton in the picturesque seaside town of Greystones in County Wicklow, known as the “Garden of Ireland”. Alison’s passion for fragrance was inspired by the divine aroma’s of the petals she picked as a child in her great-aunt Mollie's circular rose garden. Mollie used to say the 'babbling brook and the whispering shoals' would help her turn Alison's rose petals into perfume. But overnight, the kind old lady would add real perfume to the little girl's watery mixture; fooling her into thinking she had created the wonderful aroma!
'My great-aunt and the mysterious brook and shoals awakened my interest in perfumes, so I added an 'e' and turned it into a name that has wonderful fragrance memories for me'. - Alison Banton, Founder & CEO, Brooke & Shoals Fragrances.
How We Grew...
Alison decided to create her own range of candles that were superior to other Irishmade candles on the market. Her vision was simple, high quality, divine fragrances, natural wax, beautiful packaging and Irish made. Her customers loved them. She built on her experience of fragrance by going to Grasse in the South of France, the capital of fragrance, to study it in more detail and gather new inspiration.
Originally, Alison’s wonderful fragranced candles were sold only in her own shop in Greystones. However an increasing number of enquiries from other stores to stock her ranges, led her to scale up the business to meet the growing demand for her high quality, Irish made, design-led products. Now, Brooke & Shoals divine natural wax candles, home fragrance diffusers and natural body product range can be found in many high quality stores in Ireland, the UK, Mainland Europe & most recently in the USA. See our stockist list for details.
Our Philosophy...
Our philosophy centres on the creation of divine fragrance, made using a combination of essential oils and fine fragrance. We use only natural wax in our candles, which is kinder to the environment than paraffin wax. Our diffusers use a glycerine base from a renewable source that is alcohol free. Our body products contain organic active ingredients and are 100% natural. A high standard of Irish manufacture ensures consistency in the quality of our products. These features combined with our beautiful packaging, are the reason why Brooke & Shoals candles stand out from the crowd. Our philosophy is to educate your fragrance palate to reach a new level of sensual fulfilment.
Sumptuous Scents
As part of this drive for scent-excellence, we formulate our divine smells by blending fabulous fragrance oils and natural essential oils. We also use an exceptionally high level of fragrance within our candles. The combination of both of these factors, create a divine aroma with a strong fragrance-throw that really lasts.
Irish Manufacture
All of our products are made in Ireland to support Irish employment which is so important in the current economic environment. Making our products in Ireland also ensures that their quality is second to none and something we can proudly stand over.
Environmently Friendly Natural Wax
We love the fact that our candles use a sustainable natural wax blend. Using a natural wax blend for our candles means we are condoning responsible re-planting. We would never use paraffin wax as it is derived from the world’s scarce and ever-depleting oil reserves. Paraffin wax also emits toxins when burned, but our natural wax blend gives a much cleaner toxin-free burn. Go on spoil yourself!
All in all, you will feel spoiled and indulged when you light a Brooke & Shoals candle, and once you experience this, there will be no going back to ordinary candles with inferior quality fragrances, ever again. So enjoy your newly educated fragrance palate.
